Russian Armed Forces tactics in Future conflicts

A look into how the US views the Russian forces and tactics.

https://info.publicintelligence.net/AWG-RussianNewWarfareHandbook.pdf

It is propaganda. And I served too... just before your time

Ready to storm the underworld

In summer, the first Russian cuirassier lieutenants will be released from the walls of the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering School

This summer, at the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering School named after Marshal of Engineering Troops Proshlyakov, an event will take place that is important not only for this school itself, but also for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as a whole. There will take place the first graduation of lieutenants with a military specialty unprecedented in our country "The use of engineering units of assault and barrage." At the school, colleagues have already called such cadets "heavy" or attack aircraft.

In other words, we are talking about officers of a new type of army special forces for Russia - military professionals trained in street combat, breaking through serious fortifications, seizing well-defended buildings, pillboxes, command posts and other things. Moreover - in the cramped space of unlit rooms, basements and corridors, in which one has to converge with the enemy literally "chest to chest".

What is especially important: the first unit of such special forces in the RF Armed Forces was already formed six years ago. On December 1, 2014 in Murom, the 1st Guards Engineer-Sapper Brest-Berlin Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Brigade was recreated. At the same time, the one-of-a-kind brigade is not included in any military district. She immediately became part of the Reserve of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

In other words, the Murom formation is intended to increase the capabilities of the engineering troops and the efficiency of their use, create a reserve for solving sudden tasks and strengthen the groupings of troops in strategic directions.

The core and pride of the brigade is the assault and barrage battalion, designed to ensure the unhindered advance of general-purpose forces in street battles, which, according to calculations, will significantly increase the effectiveness of actions during the assault on well-defended buildings, while avoiding losses as much as possible.

Soldiers and officers of the assault and defensive battalion are armed and equipped, respectively. And in combat conditions, they look like the heroes of fantastic action movies from "Star Wars". Because under the bullets they have to go chained in heavy armor. Like medieval knights.

In addition to the most modern small arms, the battalion's personnel wear the so-called OVR-3Sh kit, which has been supplied to the troops since 2016. The main element of the set is a protective suit of the "Caspian" type made of rigid metal, plastic and ceramic plates, as well as flexible elements made of aramid fabric. To allow the fighter to move quickly, the front part of the protection is divided into two shields: the upper one, carried in the vest, and the lower one, fixed in a separate case and protecting the groin area.

Tests have shown that the "Caspian" in front and behind reliably withstands bullets from an SVD rifle (cartridge 7.62 × 54 mm R) from a distance of up to five meters. And the blocks of aramid fabric covering the side of the torso are guaranteed to keep the "stormtrooper" alive when hit by bullets from a 9-mm pistol from the same distance.

To protect the head, the OVR-3SH set includes a helmet of the "Warrior Kiver-RSP" type, which is also capable of withstanding the impact of fragments and small arms bullets. The face is covered with a transparent anti-splinter shield. The helmet is equipped with active noise canceling headphones and a laryngophone, allowing you to maintain continuous communication with the commander and the soldiers fighting nearby. On the helmet there is an additional powerful LED flashlight that allows you to hit the enemy even in pitch darkness.

The kit includes an assault armor shield covering from bullets and shrapnel, a sapper's protective suit of the 6th protection class. On it - pockets for placing additional ammunition, sensors "friend or foe", "alive-wounded-killed" and GLONAC / GPS modules.

In addition, depending on the situation, an engineer machete, a kit for knocking out doors, an assault ladder, hydraulic cutters, a circular saw, a hydraulic jack, combined scissors, a blasting machine and other means can be attached to the "attack aircraft" going into battle.

In general, the OVR-3Sh set is a kind of armored spacesuit that protects the whole body and head from damage and allows not only surviving in street combat, but quickly seizing the most protected objects with small forces. But carrying it on yourself is still a pleasure. After all, the total weight of OVR-3Sh in various configurations is up to 20 kilograms. Another 2.5 kilograms "pulls" the protective helmet.

Add to this the weight of weapons, ammunition, and "attachments" such as an assault ladder. The load will come out almost like that of a deep-sea diver dressed in a spacesuit, who is escorted from the deck of a rescue ship by sailors under the arms, and is lowered into the water with a special winch.

Now it is clear why the cadets of the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering School, applying to study the course "Application of Engineering Units of Assault and Barrage", were called "heavy"? And they recruit only perfectly trained athletes into their ranks. However, as in any special forces.

Now about how and why the idea was born in Russia to form a separate guards engineer-sapper brigade of the Supreme Command Reserve. Have you not forgotten what blood we got in the two Chechen wars in the storming of Grozny, the Chiri-Yurt cement plant, the village of Komsomolskoye, old missile silos near Bamut? If necessary, I will remind you. Let's say the battle for Bamut became the longest in the first Chechen war. And it lasted from March 1995 to May 1996. This village itself suffered so much that it was finally possible to restore it only by 2014. But everything would definitely be much simpler and not so bloody if they had then at least one assault unit, like the one that is now in Murom.

Although in the history of our country there are suitable examples of the same kind from a more distant past. Namely - from the chronicle of the Great Patriotic War. When the front steadily rolled from the walls of Stalingrad towards Berlin, the Headquarters faced a problem: how and with what forces will we take thousands of cities and towns?

They decided it as follows: on May 30, 1943, the formation of the first 15 assault engineer-sapper brigades was completed, the main task of which was to break through the Hitlerite fortified areas. “The personnel of the brigade are special sappers, attack aircraft with bullet-proof vests, in steel helmets, all armed with machine guns,” recalled General Galitsky, the former chief of engineering troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front . - They are intended for combat together with the infantry and must participate in breaking through the defense: in the destruction of pillboxes, bunkers, machine-gun nests and NP of the enemy ... ”.

How did the Soviet assault engineer-sapper brigades usually fight for fortified areas and buildings? Tanks usually brought them to the enemy pillbox as far as possible. While the sappers secretly crawled to the target, the combat vehicles held at gunpoint the entrance to the enemy fortification. Then the soldiers climbed onto the roof and lowered an anti-tank mine into the chimney, to the fuse of which a cord was stretched. Then they crawled to the side and a crushing explosion was heard.

For the capture of fortified buildings, they rarely did without flamethrowers. Their jets were directed into windows or into breaches made in the walls by their own artillery. Rarely, ground attack engineers poured gasoline into ventilation shafts and chimneys, and then set them on fire.

That is how, in just four days in April 1945, we managed to take the city of Konigsberg, considered an absolutely impregnable capital of East Prussia, with its three rings of long-term fortifications around the city, with 17 fortresses on the outer ring and 10 more powerful forts, which today amaze the imagination with the thickness of the walls - on the inner ring. As part of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front in that battle, three assault engineer-sapper brigades proved to be excellent.

What is the most surprising and encouraging, in my opinion, about their current heirs from Murom? They, the modern Russian cuirassiers, who are destined to be the first to fearlessly break into the thick of it if something happens, are not in danger of a shortage of personnel. According to the head of the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering Command School, Major General Dmitry Evmenenko , every year the competition among those wishing to master the specialty "The use of engineering units of assault and barrage" only increases. This is about the quality of today's youth in Russia. The best part, anyway.